Communication application for conducting conversations including multiple media types in either a real-time mode or a time-shifted mode

ABSTRACT

A communication application configured to support a conversation among participants over a communication network. The communication application is configured to (i) support one or more media types within the context of the conversation, (ii) interleave the one or more media types in a time-indexed order within the context of the conversation, (iii) enable the participants to render the conversation including the interleaved one or more media types in either a real-time rendering mode or time-shifted rendering mode, and (iv) seamlessly transition the conversation between the two modes so that the conversation may take place substantially live when in the real-time rendering mode or asynchronously when in the time-shifted rendering mode.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of priority to U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 61/157,108 filed Mar. 3, 2009, entitled “NovelModes of Communication” and U.S. Provisional Patent Application61/228,203 filed Jul. 24, 2009 and entitled “Communication Platform forConducting Conversations Including Multiple Media Types in Either aReal-time mode or a Time-Shifted Mode.” This application is also aContinuation-in-Part of U.S. application Ser. Nos. 12/028,400 filed Feb.8, 2008, and 12/192,890 filed Aug. 15, 2008, both entitled“Telecommunication and Multimedia Management Method and Apparatus.” Eachof the above-listed provisional and non-provisional applications isincorporated herein by reference in their entirety for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to communications, and more particularly, to acommunication application for conducting conversations and that supports(i) one or more media types such as live voice and text, (ii) theability to conduct the conversation in either a real-time synchronousmode, similar to a “live” conversation, or an asynchronous time-shiftingmode and (iii) the ability to seamlessly transition between the twomodes.

2. Description of Related Art

In spite of being a mature technology, telephony has changed little overthe years. Similar to the initial telephone system developed over ahundred years ago, a telephone call today still requires a circuitconnection between the parties before voice can be transmitted. If acircuit connection is not established, for whatever reason, nocommunication can take place.

A known advancement in telephony is voice mail. If a call is made andthe recipient does not answer the phone, then the call is “rolled-over”into a separate voice mail system, typically maintained on a voice mailserver or answering machine connected to a phone. The telephone andvoice mail systems, however, are not integrated. Rather, the voice mailservices are “tacked-on” to the underlying phone system. The fact thatthe two systems are separate and distinct, and not integrated, creates anumber of inconveniences and inefficiencies.

Consider a real-world situation where two parties wish to have a briefconversation. If party A makes a call while party B is busy, then afterthe phone rings numerous times, party A is eventually rolled over intothe voice mail of party B. Only after listening to and navigatingthrough the voice mail system, can party A leave a message. To retrievethe message, party B is required to call into the voice mail system,possibly listen to other messages first in the queue, before listeningto the message left by party A. In reply, party B may call party A. Ifparty A is busy, the above process is repeated. This routine may occurmultiple times as the two parties attempt to reach each other.Eventually one of the parties will place a call and a live circuit willbe established. Only at this point is it possible for the two parties to“rendezvous” and engage in a live conversation. The difficulty and timewasted for the two parties to communicate through voice mail, ashighlighted in this real-world example, is attributable to the fact thatthe telephone system and voice mail are two different systems that donot interoperate very well together.

With the advent of the Internet, telephony based on Voice over InternetProtocol or VoIP has become popular. Despite a number of years ofdevelopment, VoIP services today are little different than traditionaltelephony, as described above. Add on services like voicemail, emailnotifications and phonebook auto-dialing, are all common with VoIP. Thefundamental communication service of VoIP, however remains the same. Aparty is still required to place a call and wait for a connection to bemade. If the recipient does not answer, the call is rolled over intovoice mail, just like conventional telephony. VoIP has therefore notchanged the fundamental way people communicate.

Besides VoIP, other forms of communication have become popular over theInternet. Email, instant messaging, texting, video chats have all becomewidely used. Each form of communication, however, is a differentapplication that relies on a separate communication platform, eachdefining a distinct protocol for conveying media from a sender to arecipient. Each protocol is generally designed to carry only onespecific type of media and is generally not compatible with the otherprotocols. For example, the email protocol or SMTP cannot be used totransport live voice, telephones cannot be used to transport emails,chat protocols cannot be used to transport text or emails, etc. Due tothe constraints described above, the natural tendency is for a personreceiving a message of one media type to reply using the same mediatype. If a person receives an email, text message, or voice message, thereply is likely to be an email, text or voice message respectively. As aresult, the messages of a conversation tend to all be of the same mediatype and use the same protocol.

It is always possible for a person receiving a message of one media typeusing a first protocol to respond with a message of another media typeusing a second protocol. For example, a person receiving an email mayrespond by picking up the phone and calling the sender of the email.When this occurs, different communication applications are being used.There is no convergence of the different media types over a singlecommunication protocol. As a result, the messages of the conversationare broken up or fragmented across different communication platforms.There is currently no way to interleave the messages of different mediatypes and transported using different platforms and/or protocols into aunified conversation record.

Attempts have been made to unify communications across the differentcommunication platforms, such as voice mail, email, instant messaging,chat messaging, as well as presence information, call controls, etc.These attempts typically involve the creation of a user interface layer,which sits above that various underlying communication applicationplatforms, which present to the user a unified user interface. Unifiedcommunications allow an individual to receive a message in one mediatype and to respond with a message in another media type. For example,one may receive a voice mail, but may elect to respond immediately,through a chat message or phone call.

With unified communications, however, the “unification” occurs at theuser interface layer, not at the underlying protocol or core layer ofthe various communication platforms. If a person receives an email andelects to respond by a chat message, then the incoming message istransported over the SMTP (or a similar email protocol) and the outgoingmessage is transported over the chat protocol. The outgoing chat messageis not somehow transported over the email protocol. Consequently thereis no convergence of the different media types being transmitted overthe same communication core. As result, there is not way to constructconversations of interleaved messages of different media types in acoherent manner using current unified communication efforts.

Another shortcoming of the above listed communication applications isthat they are each either synchronous or asynchronous, but not both.Text, SMTP or other email protocols are asynchronous, while telephone,video chat and instant messaging are synchronous. The asynchronousprotocols cannot be used for live communication, whereas the synchronousprotocols cannot be used for asynchronous communication.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A communication application configured to support a conversation amongparticipants over a communication network. The communication applicationis configured to (i) support one or more media types within the contextof the conversation, (ii) interleave the one or more media types in atime-indexed order within the context of the conversation, (iii) enablethe participants to render the conversation including the interleavedone or more media types in either a real-time rendering mode ortime-shifted rendering mode, and (iv) seamlessly transition theconversation between the two modes so that the conversation may takeplace substantially live when in the real-time rendering mode orasynchronously when in the time-shifted rendering mode.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention may best be understood by reference to the followingdescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, whichillustrate specific embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the telecommunication and media managementsystem according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a communication application running on clientdevices in the telecommunication and media management system accordingto the invention.

FIGS. 3A through 3D illustrate various embodiments of data payloads usedin the communication and management system of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating data being transmitted over a shared IPnetwork in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating data being transmitted over acircuit-based network in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating data being transmitted across both acellular network and the Internet in accordance with the invention.

FIGS. 7A through 7K illustrate a series of user interfaces of twoparties engaged in a conversation including different media types inaccordance with the invention.

It should be noted that like reference numbers refer to like elements inthe figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

The invention will now be described in detail with reference to variousembodiments thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In thefollowing description, specific details are set forth in order toprovide a thorough understanding of the invention. It will be apparent,however, to one skilled in the art, that the invention may be practicedwithout using some of the implementation details set forth herein. Itshould also be understood that well known operations have not beendescribed in detail in order to not unnecessarily obscure the invention.

The term “media” as used herein is intended to broadly mean virtuallyany type of media, such as but not limited to, voice, video, text, stillpictures, sensor data, GPS data, or just about any other type of media,data or information.

As used herein, the term “conversation” is also broadly construed. Inone embodiment, a conversation is intended to mean a thread of messages,strung together by some common attribute, such as a subject matter ortopic, by name, by participants, by a user group, or some other definedcriteria. In another embodiment, the messages of a conversation do notnecessarily have to be tied together by some common attribute. Ratherone or more messages may be arbitrarily assembled into a conversation.Thus a conversation is intended to mean two or more messages, regardlessif they are tied together by a common attribute or not.

A. System Architecture

Referring to FIG. 1, a block diagram of the telecommunication and mediamanagement system according to one embodiment of the invention is shown.The system 10 includes a plurality of clients 12 ₁ through 12 _(n),running on devices 13 ₁, through 13 _(n) respectively. The devices 13communicate with one another over a communication services network 14,including one or more servers 16. One or more networks 18 ₁ through 18_(n), is provided to couple the plurality of devices 13 ₁ through 13_(n) to the communication services network 14. In various embodiments,the networks 18 may be the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), acellular network based on CDMA or GSM for example, the Internet, atactical radio network, or any other communication network, or acombination thereof. The communication services network 14 is a networklayer on top of or otherwise in communication with the variousunderlying networks 18 ₁ through 18 _(n). In various embodiments, thenetwork layer 14 is either heterogeneous or homogeneous. Clients 12 ₁through 12 _(n) communicate with one another and with servers 16 overthe networks 18 ₁ through 18 _(n) and network 14 using individualmessage units, referred to herein as “Vox packets”, which are describedin detail below.

B. Client Architecture

Referring to FIG. 2, a block diagram of the client 12, which is designedto run and be embedded in the communication devices 13. The client 12 isa communication application that includes a Multiple ConversationManagement System (MCMS) module 20, a Store and Stream module 22, and aninterface 24 provided between the two modules. The key features andelements of the communication application of client 12 are brieflydescribed below. For a more detailed explanation, see U.S. applicationSer. Nos. 12/028,400, 12/253,833, 12/253,820 and 12/253,833, allincorporated by reference herein for all purposes.

The MCMS module includes 20 a number of modules and services forcreating, managing and conducting multiple conversations. The MCMSmodule 20 includes a user interface module 20A for supporting the audioand video functions on the client device 12, rendering/encoding module20B for performing rendering and encoding tasks, a contacts service 20Cfor managing and maintaining information needed for creating andmaintaining contact lists (e.g., telephone numbers and/or emailaddresses), a presence status service 20D for sharing the online statusof the user of the client device 12 and indicates the online status ofthe other users and the MCMS data base 20E, which stores and manages themeta data for conversations conducted using the client device 12.

The Store and Stream module 22 includes a Permanent Infinite MemoryBuffer or PIMB 26 for storing in a time-indexed format the media ofreceived and sent messages. Encoder hardware 28 is provided for encodingthe media, such as voice, text, video or sensor data, generated usingthe client device 12. Media drivers/encoders 30 are provided for drivingthe media generating components, such as speaker and/or a display (notillustrated) and encoders for encoding media generated by a microphone,camera, keyboard, touch-sensitive display, etc. (also not illustrated)on client 12. A network interface is provided 32 for connecting theclient device 12 to the network 14, either through a wireless or wiredconnection.

The store and stream module 22 also includes modules for performing anumber of functions including encode receive 34, net receive 36,transmit 38 and render 40. The encode receive function 34 involves thereceiving, encoding, time-indexing and storing in the PIMB 26 mediacreated using the client 12 in a time-indexed format. The net receive 36function involves the time-indexing and storing in the PIMB 26 the mediacontained in messages received from others over the network 14 in thetime-indexed format. The transmit function 38 is responsible fortransmitting the media of messages created on the client 12 to otherrecipients over the network 14. The render module 40 enables the client12 to render the media of messages in either the near real-time mode orthe media stored in the PIMB 26 in the time-shifted mode. The modules 34through 40 enable the Store and Stream module 22 to (i) progressivelyand simultaneously transmitting media over the network 14 as it is beingcreated using a client 12 enabled device 13 and (ii) rendering media onthe client 12 enabled device 13 either as it is being received over thenetwork 14 in a real-time mode or from the PIMB 26 in a time-shiftedmode.

C. The Vox Protocol and Indexed Media Payloads

As noted above, the Vox protocol is used by the Store and Stream module22 to support all facets of payload transmission, storage, andoptimization. The Vox packet is a structured message format designed forencapsulation inside a transport packet or transport packets of theunderlying technology of the network 18. This arrangement significantlyimproves the flexibility of the system 10. By embedding the Vox packetsinto existing transport packets, as opposed to defining a new transportlayer for “Voxing” applications, the system 10 takes advantage ofcurrent packet based communication networks running over the existingtelecommunications infrastructure. A new network infrastructure forhandling the Vox packets therefore need not be created to take advantageof all the benefits of the system and method described herein.

Referring to FIG. 3A, the general format structure of a Vox packet 50 isillustrated. The format of the Vox packet 50 includes fields for type,sub-type, length, and payload. The type field designates different typesof Vox packets, including authentication, signaling, media payload,media multiplex (one message), and media multiplex (multiple messages).The “sub-type” field designates different message types, includingauthentication, signaling or media type messages. Possible sub-types forauthentication messages include those necessary for key exchanges andauthentication. Possible sub-types for signaling messages includeregistration, routing, message set-up, and network management. Possiblesub-types for media messages include different Codec styles anddifferent payload aggregation techniques. The length field defines theoverall length or size of the payload. The payload field contains theactual payload or media of the packet 50. A payload may carry the onetype or multiple types of media (e.g., voice, text, video, etc.)

Referring to FIG. 3B, a diagram illustrating a Vox packet 50encapsulated in an exemplary protocol used by the network 18 is shown.In this example, the Vox packet 50 is embedded in underlying UDP, IP andEthernet transport packets 52 respectively. In this manner, the Voxpacket 50 can be transported across underlying UDP, IP and Ethernetlayers of the network 18. Standard protocol encapsulation technique usedby packet networks may be used to encapsulate the Vox packet 50 into theunderlying UDP, IP and Ethernet transport packets 52 respectively.

Referring to FIG. 3C, a diagram illustrating a media multiplex Voxpacket 50 encapsulated in UDP, IP, and Ethernet 54 is illustrated. Inthis example, the Vox packet 50 includes a Media type field, a Mediasub-type field, a Length field, a Message ID field, a Time stamp field,a Sequence ID field, and a Media payload field.

Referring to FIG. 3D, the format of an indexed media payload 58 isillustrated. The indexed media payload includes a Sub-type field, aLength field, a Message identifier (ID) field, a Time-stamp field, aSequence identifier (ID) field, and Field for the media payload.

The encapsulation of Vox packets 50 into the transport packets of theunderlying network allows the media, messages and conversations to eachbe defined by a number of attributes.

When created or otherwise originated on a device 13, media isprogressively segmented and placed into the payloads of a plurality ofVox packets 50 as the media is being created. The packets are thenprogressively stored in the PIMB 26 and progressively transmitted (i.e.,streamed) by transmit module 38 on the transmitting client 12 enableddevice 13 simultaneously as the media is being created. On the receiveside, the receiving client 12 enabled device 13 receives the streamedmedia and progressively stores the media in the PIMB 26 of the receivingdevice 13 as it is received. If the receiving device 13 is in thesynchronous or real-time mode, the render function 40 also progressivelyrenders the streaming media simultaneously as it is being received.Alternatively, the render function 40 may retrieve the received mediafrom the PIMB 26 at an arbitrary later time, defined by the user of thereceiving device 13, when reviewing the media in the time-shifted mode.

Since each packet 50 is indexed, time-stamped, and given a sequenceidentifier, the individual packets can be assembled into messages.Conversations are constructed by sequentially threading individualmessages, each assembled from the media payload of one or more packets50. As noted above, the messages of a conversation may be assembledusing a defined attribute or in some other arbitrary way. Regardless ofhow the messages are assembled, a conversation may include messages ofdifferent types of media.

The abilities to (i) progressively and persistently store and transmitmedia as it is being created on the transmitting device 13 and (ii)progressively store and render the media on the receiving devices allowsthe participants of a conversation to converse in real-time. Thepersistent storage of the media in the PIMB 30 allows the participantsof a conversation to participate in the time-shifted mode. A host ofrendering options provided on the client 12 enabled devices 13 alsoallows the participants to seamlessly transition the conversation backand forth between the two modes.

One further unique aspect of the system 10 is that the media payloadsgenerated by a client 12 are stored in multiple locations. Not only arethe payloads stored in the PIMB 26 of the generating device 13, but alsoin a PIMB (not illustrated) of the server(s) 16 on the communicationservices network 14 and the PIMB 26 of the receiving devices 13. Thisbasic feature enables or makes possible much of the “Voxing”functionality described above and provides the system 10 with bothresilience and operability, even when network conditions are poor orwhen a participant of a conversation is not connected to the network.

D. Interoperability with Underlying Telecommunication Protocols

The system 10 is intended to run or be layered over a variety ofexisting communication networks 18, such as the Internet, fixed PSTNtype circuit networks, and mobile or cellular phone networks, or acombination thereof. The system 10 is designed around the concept ofmoving many small units of information (i.e., the Vox packets 50)between different Clients 12 and Servers 16 in the system 10. While thesize of the Vox packets 50 may vary, depending on their function andpayload, they all appear to be the same kind of data to the underlyingnetwork layer. In one embodiment, the system 10 has been designed andoptimized for IPv4 networks such as the Internet, but other types ofnetworks may be supported as well. For the purposes of this document,the term “IP” should be taken to mean IPv4, IPv6 or any other current orfuture implementation of the Internet Protocol.

Referring to FIG. 4, a diagram of a client 12 running on device 13 andcommunicating with a server 16 over a shared IP network 60 is shown. Asillustrated, the client 12 is coupled to the shared IP network 60through a first Internet service provider A and the server 16 is coupledto the shared IP network 60 by a second Internet service provider B.During communication, the Vox packets 50 (designed “VP” in the figure)are encapsulated within UDP/IP packets and then interleaved among otherIP protocol packets as is well known in the art and transmitted acrossthe shared IP network 60 from the client 12 to server 16, or vice versa.As is well known, each lower packet layer encapsulates the entire packetof the layer immediately above it. Packets can also be sent in a similarmanner between two servers 16. In this manner, messages are routedbetween client 12 enabled devices 13, including any intermediate server16 hops, over the shared IP network 100. At each hop, the Vox packets 50are embedded in the underlying IP protocol and transmitted, until theyreach the target destination.

The diagram of FIG. 4 is merely exemplary, showing only a single client12 and server 16 connected to the network 60 for the sake ofillustration. In actual embodiments of the system 10, a large number ofclients 12 and one or more servers 16 are typically connected to theshared IP network 60. It is also useful to note that the client 12 andserver 16 do not have exclusive use of the IP network 60. By way ofexample, an HTTP client 62, which is coupled to the network 60 throughInternet provider A, can send packets back and forth with an HTTP server64, coupled to the network 60 through a third Internet provider C. Thesystem 10 does not control the manner in which the VPs embedded in theIP packets traverse the network 60. Rather, all packets that traverseand share the network 60 do so in accordance with the standardprocedures of the underlying shared IP network 60.

Referring to FIG. 5, a “circuit” based network 68 such as a GSM mobilephone network is illustrated. The circuit network 68 is coupled betweenclient 12 running on device 13 and server 16. Once a circuit isestablished between the client 12 and server 16, the system 10 layersthe Vox packets 50 (e.g., VP1, VP2, VP3, VP4, VP5, etc.) onto theunderlying packets used by the network 68. The underlying packets, withthe embedded Vox packets 50, are then transmitted across the network 68,creating a “virtual Vox” circuit. The Vox packets 50 sequentiallytraverse the circuit network 68, typically with spacing or framing dataas is well known in the art for transmitting data over a circuitnetwork. In addition, packet construction parameters, such as thepayload size and the number of header fields, may be used to exploit thelack of per-packet overhead and to increase speed and/or efficiency ofdata transfer across the network 68. It should be noted again that forthe sake of simplicity, only a single client 12 and server 16 are shownconnected to the network 68. It should be understood, however, thatadditional circuits between multiple clients 12 and/or servers 16 aswell as other components may be established concurrently through thenetwork 68. The network 68 is therefore not dedicated for thetransmission of Vox packets 50, but rather may be shared with othertypes of network traffic.

Referring to FIG. 6, a diagram illustrating communication between afirst client 12A enabled device 13A associated with a first network Aand a second client 12B enabled device 13B associated with a secondnetwork B is illustrated. The networks A and B further each includegateway servers 16A and 16B respectively. The gateway server pair 16Aand 16B facilitate communication between the two networks A and B,allowing the devices 13A and 13B to communicate with each other. Invarious embodiments, the networks A and B could each be any type ofnetwork. For example, each network A and/or B could be an IP network, acircuit type network, or a wireless or cellular network (i.e., CDMA,GSM, TDMA, etc.). The servers 16 that straddle the two networks A and Bare considered gateway servers because they route traffic or serve as a“gate” between the two networks. The gateway servers 16A and 16B arealso responsible for translating media from one packet type used in thefirst network A and to a second media type used on the second network Band vice versa. For example, the gateway servers may convert IP packetsused on a first IP network into packets defined by the SIP, RTP protocolas used on the second network or vice versa. With each translation, theVox packet payload substantially remains the same, while the underlyingpacket used for transport is translated into the native packet used onthe receiving network.

With the system 10, there are a several basic network interactionconsiderations to optimize system performance. These considerationsinclude factors such as resolving the underlying address to which theVox packets 50 are to be sent, the integrity of any sent Vox packets 50,and the management of the Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) of a singlemessage that may be sent across a given network or combination ofnetworks.

The address of a target client 12 needs to be known so that theunderlying network delivers the Vox packet 50 to the correct location.With IPv4 networks, the address is typically an IPv4 Address, which is a32-bit number that uniquely identifies a host within the network. Forother networking technologies, the address could be some other type ofidentifier. IP networks use the Domain Name System (DNS) to resolvehuman-readable names into IP addresses, and the Address ResolutionProtocol (ARP) to resolve IP addresses into physical addresses.Regardless of the underlying networking technology, the system 10 usesone of the above-mentioned or other known addressing schemes fordelivery of Vox packets 50 to the correct location.

As with almost any packet-based communication network, transmitted Voxpackets 50 might not be delivered to the addressed location if theunderlying network is unable to deliver the packets in which the Voxpackets are encapsulated. Packet-based networks typically do not informtransmitters when packets are dropped. Instead, the burden ofidentifying and retransmitting dropped packets falls onto thetransmitting and receiving devices. The system 10 is thus designed touse receiver receipt report messages to coordinate this packet lossmanagement. If the underlying network is able to inform the sender oflost or dropped packets, the system 10 utilizes this information in itsretransmission protocol. For more details on the CooperativeTransmission Protocol used for retransmission of missing and/ordefective packets, see co-pending commonly assigned U.S. applicationSer. Nos. 12/028,400 and 12/192,890, both incorporated by referenceherein for all purposes.

The management of MTU is the determination of the Maximum TransmissionUnit (i.e., the maximum size of a single message) that may be sentacross a network. For packet-based networks, the underlying networkimposes the MTU. For circuit-switched networks, the MTU may be a tunableparameter for network efficiency and performance. Thus in most cases,the underlying network imposes or determines the maximum size of the Voxpacket 50 that may be transmitted efficiently. For example with IPnetworks, packets may be fragmented if the payload exceeds the MTU, butat a substantial performance penalty. With IP over Ethernet networks,the transmitting device has an MTU of 1518 bytes, as enforced byEthernet. The largest IP packet must leave room for the Ethernetheaders. The largest UDP packet must leave room for both IP and Ethernetheaders and the largest Vox protocol that may be generated on Ethernetfor example is the Ethernet MTU (1518)−IP header (20)−UDP header(8)=1490 bytes. Since Vox packets 50 have a header of its own, theactual Vox media payload will be less than 1490 bytes on an Ethernetnetwork. For Gigabit Ethernet, the MTU could be much larger, but wouldbe determined using a similar formula.

In a purely packet-based network, there are two potential values forMTU, the local link MTU and the path MTU. Determining the local link MTUyields the maximum size for the Vox packets 50 to be efficiently sentout to the local network interface. The path MTU yields the maximum sizeof the Vox packet 50 that may be sent intact all the way to the remotenode. If a sender is connected via Ethernet, the Vox packet 50 mightpass through various other systems, with smaller MTUs, en-route to therecipient. The smallest MTU on the path to the destination needs to beresolved and known by the sender. In the IP world, there is a standardprocedure for discovering the smallest MTU, called “Path MTU Discovery”,which may be used. For other kinds of networks, an equivalent proceduremay be used. Again, since the system 10 is layered on top of othernetworks 18, any of the above MTU algorithms may be used.

E. Conversation Examples

As described above, the progressive nature of the of the clientcommunication application 12 enables the users of devices 13 tocommunicate in the real-time mode, while the persistent storage of mediaallows users to communicate in the time-shifted mode. Furthermore, aseach Vox packet 50 is indexed, time-stamped, and given a sequenceidentifier, the individual packets can be assembled into messages. As aresult, conversations between participants, including different mediatypes, such as voice, video, text, etc., can be constructed bysequentially threading individual messages together. Since eachparticipant may create different media types during the conversation,the messages containing the various media types (e.g., voice and text)may be interleaved throughout the conversation history.

Referring to FIGS. 7A through 7K, a series of screen shots showing theuser interfaces on two communication devices 13 are provided during thecourse of a conversation between participants named Sam Fairbanks andJill Wright. In this example, the attribute that defines theconversation is the name of one of the participants (i.e., “JillWright”). As the various screen shots illustrate in this example, thetypes of media of the conversation are a combination of live voice inthe real time mode and voice and/or text messaging in the time-shiftedmode. In addition, the example illustrates how the conversation mayseamlessly transition between the two modes.

In FIG. 7A, the user interface of Sam's communication device 13A isshown. The user interface shows Sam's favorite ongoing or currentconversations, each defined by a attribute. In this example, Sam'sconversations are designated by a person's name (i.e., “Jill Wright”),by a group (“Poker Buddies”) or by topic (“Weekly Sales Meeting”).

In FIG. 7B, Sam chooses his conversation with Jill. The selection may bemade in a variety of ways, such as entering a voice command, enteringkeystrokes to select the conversation with Jill, or through atouch-screen by touching the screen next to Jill's name. In thisexample, the circle designated by reference number 82 appearing next toJill's name is representative of the selection of the conversation withJill Wright, regardless of the method used.

In FIG. 7C, the user interface on Sam's device is illustrated after theselection of the conversation with Jill Wright. In this example, it isassumed that the conversation is ongoing, and as a result, the historyof the conversation with Jill, including each message of theconversation, is presented in time-indexed order. In this example, themessages are a mixture of both voice and text. With text messages 84,the actual message is retrieved from the PIMB 26 (or alternatively someother memory location for storing text messages) on Sam's device 13A andpresented in a media bubble, along with the time the message was createdand the person who created the message. With voice messages 86, an iconindicative of voice, such as a speaker, is provided for voice messagebubbles, along with the creation time and the name of the person whocreated the message. When a voice message previously received isselected, the corresponding media of the message is retrieved from thePIMB 26 on Sam's device 13A and rendered. In various embodiments, therendering may be automatic or require the selection of the “Play” icon88. Sam may therefore scroll up and down the conversation history,reviewing selected or all of the conversation messages in thetime-shifted mode at any arbitrary time. Previously messages may beselected and reviewed one at a time, or continuously in time-indexedorder.

In this example, Sam has the option of sending to Jill either a textmessage by selecting the “Text” icon 90 or a voice message by selectingthe “Talk” icon 92. In this example, Sam elects to talk to Jill byselecting the “Talk” icon 92, as represented by the circle 94 adjacentthe “Talk” icon.

FIG. 7D shows the user interface on Sam's device after selecting theTalk icon 92. The display shows a window 96 appearing on the userinterface of device 13A that indicates that Sam is “Sending a Message toJill Wright” as well as a time indicator informing Sam of the durationof the message. In this example, Sam is informing Jill that his carbroke down on highway 101.

FIG. 7E shows the user interface of Jill's communication device 13Bafter receiving a notification that Sam is in the process of leaving hera message. In this example, the notification may be implemented in avariety of ways. In a soft notification example as illustrated, a pop-upmessage 98 appears on the display of Jill's communication device. Thepop-up message 98 indicates that Sam is leaving a message and that hewould like to speak directly with Jill. The pop-up message 98 providesJill with a number of response options, including “Talk”, which willallow Sam and Jill to engage the conversation in near real-time,“Listen” which will allow Jill to review the incoming message, or “Text”which allows Jill to create and send a text message back to Sam. TheTalk, Listen and Text options are each described below with respect toFIG. 7F, FIGS. 7G through 7J, and FIG. 7K respectively.

In various embodiments, an audio notification, such as a beep or a ringtone, may also be used instead of or in cooperation with the pop-upwindow 98 to get Jill's attention. Audible notification is particularlyuseful when the device 13 is not immediately visible, for example, whenin a pocket, briefcase or purse. In different embodiments, variouslevels of notice may be provided. In urgent situations, a high prioritynotice may be provided. In a more casual situation, a less urgent noticemay be provided.

FIG. 7F shows the user interface on Jill's device 13B after selectingthe “Talk” option. When this selection is made, the displays of bothcommunication devices 13A and 13B shift into a state that lets each userknow they are talking in the near real-time mode. For example, a “Live”message 100 along with time duration (e.g., “0:27) is displayed to eachparticipant. As the two parties speak, their voice messages aretime-indexed, stored in their respective PIMBs, and added to thehistorical record of the conversation. The conversation may continue inthe near real-time (live) mode until either party selects the “End”function 102. Thereafter, Sam and Jill may resume the conversation at alater time, either in the real-time mode or the time-shifted messagingmode.

Alternatively, FIG. 7G shows the user interface on Jill's device 13Bafter selecting the “Listen” option, which allows Jill to listen to theincoming message without immediately engaging in a live conversationwith Sam. The user interface on Jill's device 13B displays the previoustext 84 and voice 86 messages of the conversation history, including amedia bubble 104 indicating that Sam is currently leaving a message. Inaddition, a window 106 including a number of rendering options isincluded in the display. The rending options include a Catch-Up-To-Live(CTL) feature (designated by the rabbit icon), as well as icons forjumping backward, pausing and jumping forward. In this example Jill haselected the CTL feature to review Sam's message. With the CTL option,the media of Sam's message is rendered faster than it was originallyencoded, allowing Jill to quickly review the message and eventuallycatch up to the live point of the conversation.

FIG. 7H shows the display on Jill's device 13B after she has caught upto the live point. At this moment, the display 106 on Jill's devicetransitions, indicating that she is now engaged with a live conversationwith Sam. Thus in this example, Jill has seamlessly transitionedparticipation in the conversation with Sam from the time-shifted modeinto the near real-time mode.

FIG. 7I shows the display of both Sam and Jill's user interfaces whileJill is listening live to the message from Sam. Jill may elect torespond by either sending a text message by selecting the “Text” icon 90or a voice message by selecting the “Talk” icon 92. In this example,Jill elects to talk, as signified by the circle 108 adjacent the “Talk”icon 92. In various embodiments, Jill may simply talk into hercommunication device, automatically implementing the talk function.Alternatively, some type of active input may be needed, such as touchingthe “Talk” icon 92 with an input device, such as a finger or stylus.

FIG. 7J shows the conversation between Sam and Jill in the live nearreal-time mode, as represented by the arrow 110 between the twocommunication devices 13A and 13B. In this example, Jill is sending alive message informing Sam that she will pick him up in her car. Sam andJill may send live messages back and forth, similar to a conventionaltelephone conversation, while in the real-time mode.

Alternatively, Jill also has the option of sending a text message backto Sam in reply to his incoming message by selecting the Text icon 90 asillustrated in FIG. 7I. When the Text option is selected, the userinterface of Jill's device 13B is shown in FIG. 7K, displaying akeyboard 112 for typing a text message. After the text message istransmitted, it is displayed in a text media bubble 114 in theconversation history appearing on Sam's device 13A. In variousembodiments, the text message may be transmitted keystroke by keystroke,or only after the typing of the message is completed and transmittedafter initiating a send function.

As Sam and Jill engage in the conversation in the real-time mode, livevoice messages are sent back and forth between the two parties. At anypoint while the conversation is in the near real-time mode, one or bothparties may opt out of live participation. At this point, the partiesmay still communication, sending either voice or text messages to eachother, which may then be reviewed by the recipient in the time-shiftedmode. The conversation therefore does not end when live communicationstops, but rather, seamlessly transitions from the near real-time modeto the time-shifted mode. At any point, Sam and Jill may again elect toresume the conversation live and seamlessly transition back to the nearreal-time mode.

It should be noted that the various messages, icons and notificationsmentioned above with regard to FIGS. 7A through 7K are merely exemplary.A wide variety different messages, icons and notifications, includingaudible, visual, text or icon based indicators may be used, either aloneor in combination. In addition, the selection of the various icons andfunctions, and the scrolling through the various messages of aconversation, may be implemented in a number of ways, such as using aninput device such as a finger stylus or pointer, using voice commands,or any other screen navigation, input or selection method. Thoseprovided and described herein should therefore be considered asrepresentative and not limiting the scope of the invention in anyregard.

It should also be understood that the present invention may be appliedto any communication system, including mobile or cellular phonenetworks, police, fire, military taxi, and first responder typecommunication systems, legacy circuit-based networks, VoIP networks, theInternet, or any combination thereof.

In various embodiments, devices 13 may be one of the following:land-line phone, wireless phone, cellular phone, satellite phone,computer, radio, server, satellite radio, tactical radio or tacticalphone The types of media besides voice that may be generated on acommunication device 13 and transmitted may further include video, text,sensor data, position or GPS information, radio signals, or acombination thereof.

The aforementioned description is described in relation to a wired orwireless communication devices 13. It should be understood that the sametechniques and principles of the present invention also apply to theserver hops 16 between a sending and a receiving pair in either awireless or wired network. In the case of a server hop 16, media istypically not generated on these devices. Rather these devices receivemedia from another source, such as a phone, radio or another hop on thenetwork, and are responsible for optionally persistently storing thereceived media and forwarding the media on to the next hop or therecipient as described above.

Although many of the components and processes are described above in thesingular for convenience, it will be appreciated by one of skill in theart that multiple components and repeated processes can also be used topractice the techniques of the system and method described herein.Further, while the invention has been particularly shown and describedwith reference to specific embodiments thereof, it will be understood bythose skilled in the art that changes in the form and details of thedisclosed embodiments may be made without departing from the spirit orscope of the invention. For example, embodiments of the invention may beemployed with a variety of components and should not be restricted tothe ones mentioned above. It is therefore intended that the invention beinterpreted to include all variations and equivalents that fall withinthe true spirit and scope of the invention.

1. An apparatus comprising: a communication application configured tosupport a conversation among participants over a communication network,the communication application configured to: (i) support one or moremedia types within the context of the conversation; (ii) interleave theone or more media types in a time-indexed order within the context ofthe conversation; (iii) enable the participants to render theconversation including the interleaved one or more media types in eithera real-time rendering mode or time-shifted rendering mode; and (iv)seamlessly transition the conversation between the two modes so that theconversation may take place substantially live when in the real-timerendering mode or asynchronously when in the time-shifted renderingmode.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the communication applicationrelies on a packet protocol that defines a media packet format, themedia packet format defining the format for media packets used totransport the one or more media types between the participants duringthe conversation, the media packet format defining one or more of thefollowing fields per media packet: (i) a payload field capable ofcarrying a media payload of the one or more media types; and (ii) a timestamp index indicating the time when the media carried in the mediapayload is created.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the mediapacket format further optionally comprises one or more of the followingfields per media packet: (iii) a length field for storing informationindicative of the length of the media packet; (iv) a message ID fieldfor storing a message identifier associated with the media packet; (v) asequence ID field for storing a sequence identifier for identifying thesequence of a selected media packet in relationship to one or more othermedia packets; or (vi) a media sub-type field containing media relatedinformation including Codec information.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the communication application relies on a packet protocol thatdefines a signaling packet format, the signaling packet format definingthe format of signaling packets used for signaling between theparticipants during the set up of the conversation, the signalingpackets carrying one or more of the following types of signals: (i)registration signals; (ii) authentication signals; (iii) routingsignals; (iv) set-up signals; or (v) network management signals.
 5. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the communication application relies on apacket protocol that defines a packet format for packets that transportsignals and the one or more media types required to set up and conductthe conversation between the participants, the packet format configuredto define the packets to be embedded into payloads of transport packetsused on the network.
 6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the one ormore transport packets comprise one or more of the following types oftransport packets: Ethernet packets, UPD packets, or the Internetprotocol (IP) packets.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein theconversation is conducted over a communication network, thecommunication network comprises one of the following: (i) the Internet;(ii) the PSTN; (iii) a circuit-based network; (iv) a mobilecommunication network’ (v) a cellular network; (vi) a wired network;(vii) a wireless network; (viii) a satellite network; or (iix) anycombination of (i) through (viii).
 8. The apparatus of claim 2, whereinthe communication application is further configured to assemble of themedia packets into messages.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein thecommunication application is further configured to assemble the mediapackets into messages using a message attribute, the message attributeincluding one of the following: (i) a time-stamp; (ii) an index; (iii) amessage identifier; (iv) a sequence identifier, or (v) any combinationof (i) through (iv).
 10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein thecommunication application is further configured to define theconversation by associating the messages.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10,wherein the messages of the conversation are associated by an attribute,the attribute being selected from one of the following: (i) a name of aparticipant of the conversation; (ii) a topic of the conversation; (iii)a subject defining the conversation; or (iv) a group identifieridentifying group of participants in the conversation.
 12. The apparatusof claim 1, wherein the communication application further defines apersistent storage element for persistently storing the one or moremedia types created by the participants during the conversation in atime-indexed order.
 13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein thecommunication application is embedded in and running on a communicationdevice, the communication device.
 14. The apparatus of claim 13, whereinthe communication application and the communication device cooperate torender the one or more media types of the conversation either: (i)synchronously when the conversation is in the real-time rendering mode;or (ii) asynchronously by rendering the one or more media types when theconversation is in the time-shifting mode.
 15. The apparatus of claim13, wherein the communication device is one of the following: (i) aland-line phone; (ii) a wireless phone; (iii) a cellular phone; (iv) amobile phone; (v) a satellite phone; (vi) a computer; (vii) a radio;(viii) a server; (ix) a tactical radio; (x) a satellite radio; or (xi) atactical radio.
 16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or moremedia types comprise: (i) voice; (ii) video; (iii) text; (iv) GPS data;(v) pictures; and (vi) sensor data.
 17. The apparatus of claim 13,wherein the communication application and the communication devicecooperate to display to a user of the communication device a list ofactive conversations.
 18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein thecommunication application and the communication device cooperate toenable the user of the communication device to select one of theconversations among the list of active conversations for participation.19. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the communication application andthe communication device cooperate to display to the user of thecommunication device a message history of the conversation, the messagehistory including one or more messages.
 20. The apparatus of claim 19,wherein the cooperation to display the history of the conversationfurther comprises displaying one or more media bubbles, each of the oneor more media bubbles representative of the one or more messagesrespectively.
 21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein each of the one ormore media bubbles is displayed in the time-indexed order in which theone or more messages were created respectively.
 22. The apparatus ifclaim 20, wherein each of the one or more media bubbles includes one ormore of the following: (i) a media type indicator which indicates whichof the one or more media types is associated with each of the mediabubbles respectively; (ii) a date and time indicator indicative of thedate and the time each of the messages represented by each of the mediabubbles was created respectively; and (iii) a name indicator indicativeof the name of the participant of the conversation that created each ofthe messages represented by each of the media bubbles respectively. 23.The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the communication application and thecommunication device cooperate to enable a user of the communicationdevice to create each of the one or more media types.
 24. The apparatusof claim 13, wherein the communication application and the communicationdevice cooperate to enable a user to generate a first media type inresponse to receiving a second media type from another participant ofthe conversation, wherein the first media type and the second media typeare different media types among the one or more media types supported bythe communication application.
 25. The apparatus of claim 13, whereinthe communication application and the communication device cooperate torender the one or more media types of the conversation in accordancewith one or more of the following rendering options: (i) play; (ii)pause; (iii) jump forward; (iv) jump backward; and (v) Catch-up-To-Live(CTL).
 26. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the conversation includingthe interleaved one or more media types may optionally be rendered inthe time-indexed order in which the media was created.
 27. Acommunication application configured to enable the participants of aconversation conducted over a communication network to exchange “live”voice messages in a near real-time mode and voice or text messages in atime shifted mode and to seamlessly transition the conversation betweenthe two modes.
 28. The communication application of claim 27, furtherconfigured to store in a storage element the voice and text messages ofthe conversation in a manner so that the media of the messages may beretrieved from the storage element in the time-indexed order in whichthe messages were created.
 29. The communication application of claim27, further configured to display the voice and text messages of theconversation in the time-indexed order in which the messages werecreated.
 30. The communication application of claim 28, furtherconfigured to enable a participant of the conversation to (i) generate atext message in response to receiving a voice message and (ii) generatea voice message in response to receiving a text message.
 31. Thecommunication application of claim 28, further configured to enable theconversation to transition (i) from the near real-time mode to thetime-shifted mode and (ii) from the time-shifted mode to the nearreal-time mode.